Local SEO gets you more leads in a few different ways, but here are the top 3 ways.
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Improve your Reputation
If most of your marketing has been word-of-mouth in the past, you know how important your reputation is. A solid Local SEO strategy helps you improve your digital reputation.
Reviews on your website are a great tool, but we need to get people to your website. To do this, make sure you have reviews on your Google My Business, Facebook, Foursquare, wherever your leads are finding you. Search engines have to see reviews from reliable sites, and they use this as a signal to boost your business up the results page ladder.
Reviews count for 16% of signals that put you in the Local Pack on Google. (The Local Pack is the results that show up on the map when you search for something like ‘hairdresser near me’). That means if you aren’t getting consistent, positive reviews, Google isn’t going to be getting those review signals.
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Work your way up to the Local 3-Pack gets you more leads
The more you focus on implementing your local SEO strategy, the more you will be working your way up to the Local 3-Pack. Being in the tops 3 search results means getting a combined total of 48% of clicks.
Remember: Google My Business accounts for 33% of signals. This is by far the tactics with the most significant percentage of signals being sent. You can find my Google My Biz Optimization Guide here. This gives 11 tips on using your Google My Business profile to use it to the best of its ability and get amazing results from the signals you send to Google.
*Remember the local 3-pack is the first 3 organic results when you do a local search on Google.
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Gaining trustworthiness
All of the signals you send to Google through a local SEO strategy help you build trust with Google. You’ll hear me speak a lot about becoming BFFs with Google. You really want them on your side and to push you to the top of Google rankings.
Think of all these signals as traits that Google is looking for in a friend. Do other people like you (reviews)? Do other people know you (link building and citations)? Are you easy to read (on-site SEO)? Are you easy to reach (Google My Biz)?
All of this helps Google better understand why they should push your business to the top of their Google search results and get you more leads.
